This Monday, the Law Commission approved in principle the Socialist Party’s bill providing for the dissolution of 15 municipalities across the country.

The bill passed the commission in principle with 8 votes in favor and 5 against.

Meanwhile, commission chairman Ulsi Manja called a 30-minute recess, after which the commission will resume work to approve the bill article by article.

Outside the Parliament premises, citizens from the municipalities expected to be dissolved gathered in protest against such a bill.

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The review of the administrative-territorial reform was accompanied by heated exchanges in the Law Commission, where the opposition challenged the way the draft was being handled and the pace of the process.

MPs Saimir Korreshi and Gent Strazimiri called for the positions of the municipalities and the opposition’s initiative to be taken into consideration before the procedure continued.

Korreshi accused the commission chair of giving priority to the majority’s initiative, while also mocking the way documents received from local government had been handled.

He called for all materials submitted to Parliament to be reviewed by the commission before a final decision was made.

“Albania has endless problems. These municipalities have a problem: they addressed Parliament, not Mazniku. They addressed the Parliament of the Republic of Albania. Has it been twinned with Niko? Look how the law came in: you had the oven hot, you rushed it through on August 31, immediately. It did not wait at all to come here; it went in and came straight back out. What about the previous documents? These people dealing with territorial reform know nothing, and we in the Law Commission are also asleep. We have not come here to talk about fish. The ones that died in Lushnje. When they send these initiatives to Parliament, at least let us receive them. All the mayors lined up one after another, while the gentleman says it is nine or ten others. They brought it on the 31st; did you put the pilaf into motion here, or was it soup? When you tell us to wait two weeks, ours has to sleep after sleeping. Apparently there was no sleep here, in the Divjakë municipality; the casserole was in the oven. You are the chef who cooks better. Why was ours not done within a day as well? Or did you have other work, Niko?” Korreshi said.

The chair of the Law Commission, Ulsi Manja, replied that the opposition’s initiative had also been sent to the municipalities for consultation, arguing that the procedure followed by Parliament had been the same.

“You are asking me why it was not done for your initiative. The Secretary-General of the Parliament of Albania informed me that your initiative was sent to all the municipalities in the same way as ours. Through the same procedure, as you requested. You submitted a bill and asked Parliament to send it to all the municipalities.

The MP Gent Strazimiri also joined the debate, accusing Manja of continuing the procedure without waiting for the local government’s positions to be fully reviewed. Strazimiri called for the two initiatives to be examined together and claimed that the action being taken was contrary to the Constitution and the law,” Manja stated.

Meanwhile, Strazimiri said: “The Constitution has silenced you; it has tied your hands and feet with its articles. You should have closed this meeting the first time I told you to. The municipal councils have stated in writing that they do not want it. You are lying too. We must listen to Mazniku.”

“Do not listen to him; we are listening to him,” Manja added. Meanwhile, Strazimiri continued: “You must wait for our initiatives to arrive as well, so that they can be brought together. You say that this will be over on the 8th. You are violating the Constitution and the law. What we are saying are arguments to help you understand that you are living in a time when this star no longer runs the state, but those two books you have there do. You are there to implement those books you have there, not to do as you please. There were 15 municipalities interested; now there are 16, including Krujë.”

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The Law Commission approved, article by article, the legal changes to increase magistrates’ salaries, with eight votes in favor from the Socialists and three against from the Democrats.

The draft is expected to be reviewed and voted on Thursday in a plenary session.

The debate over salaries escalated after Parliament failed to approve the new formula by July 31, which was supposed to comply with the Constitutional Court’s decision.

After the deadline expired, the High Judicial Council and the High Prosecutorial Council decided that, starting on August 1, the reference salary would be calculated on the basis of 222,425 lek, with an additional compensation of 14,000 lek for qualifications.

At the request of the Democratic Party and with the majority’s approval, representatives of justice institutions were invited to the meeting. They expressed opposition to the formula proposed by the government.

Mirela Bogdani, chairwoman of the High Prosecutorial Council, opposed the majority’s version. Ilir Panda, deputy chairman of the Supreme Court, took the same position.

Gerd Hoxha, head of the Judges’ Association, took the most critical stance while reporting to lawmakers. According to him, the Constitutional Court’s decision cannot be subject to negotiation.

The opposition also called for the changes to be rejected, accusing the government of failing to properly establish the salary hierarchy within the justice system.

Democratic lawmaker Oerd Bylykbashi described the situation as a constitutional crisis caused by the executive and the government. He said the opposition had warned of this problem 10 years ago, adding that the government was unable to establish a salary hierarchy and that the law should be rejected.

Justice Minister Toni Gogu, who attended the committee meeting, criticized Parliament for failing to approve the new formula on time. However, he said the version presented by the majority resolved the situation.

Gogu acknowledged that Parliament had not respected the July 31 deadline, emphasizing that this required no justification. According to him, Parliament’s delay would not lead to a clash between the branches of government.

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